The Greatest Adventure
by darkpelt117
Summary: Six years after Gregor left the Underland. Basically things happen, and a good, propersummary is not made to describe it, because the story author is not good at those. Rated T because Underland Chronicles.


** Hey, what's goin' on, guys? Darkpelt117 here, welcome back(**_**FINALLY!**_**) to another FanFic of mine. I'm really sorry it took me **_**this**_** long to actually post something after I made that promise a while back… Basically, I don't post something at all for three months, promise that I'll do my best to post more stories more often, and then **_**don't **_**post for **_**another**_** three months! What kind of asshole **_**am**_** I?!**

** Anyway, I'm trying to do better in that respect now, and so I spent a good three days working on the first chapter of this new story for you all, and now, since I've been given the perfect opportunity to, I'm posting it. The second chapter is actually already in progress, so it shouldn't be **_**too**_** terribly long before that's up as well. Uhm… I can't really say a whole bunch about this story, because if I do, then it'd wind up as a whole bunch of spoilers, so yeah. The thing I can say is that this takes place after the books… A **_**while**_**… after the books, and that it doesn't really begin with happy fun times. That's basically all I can say about the story before I give it to you all without spoiling the whole thing for you.**

** Well, before I go on an even longer ramble that makes no sense whatsoever, and without any further ado, **_**LET'S(FINALLY) DO THIS!**_

** ...After a quick disclaimer, telling the world that I -**__**in fact -**_** DO NOT **_**own the Underland Chronicles, only this story and its plot. The UNderland Chronicles is owned and Copywritten by Suzanne Collins.**

She was broken.

They knew not of how or why their Queen, Luxa, had come to be this way, and although it was by no means a recent occurrence and didn't in any way seem to hold an effect on her performance as the Queen, being her decisions on certain matters or affairs as well as other things, or her fighting ability, the worry of Luxa's current state of mind weighed heavily in the minds of the great many inhabitants of the beautiful stone city of Regalia. Although they lived with no real concept of the day-night cycle of the aboveground world they knew as the Overland, or the passing of time there at all, they could still easily say that it had certainly been six years in the least since it began.

It was the shared belief of everyone in Regalia – including those residing within the Palace – that the Overlander, the Warrior mentioned in all five of the prophecies seen and carved by the founder of Regalia, Bartholomew of Sandwich himself, had something to do with it, as Luxa's strange behavior began only a short while after he'd left for what was known to be the last time; there were no more Prophecies to fulfill, no more a call to the Warrior to once more save the Underland, although – secretly – there were quite a few who wished there were.

Their lack of knowledge, however, would remain, if only because their concern for their beloved Queen prevented their thinking that in any way related itself to her or her current 'condition'. There was no way they could know now or learn later that she was broken because of something they could never have guessed, something that would never once in their lives have crossed their minds; she missed the Warrior, and terribly so at that.

Another part of it was something that would have crossed their minds even _less_ frequently than the other, for you see, the one true leading cause behind Queen Luxa's current state was this; in all the time she'd known him, after everything he'd done for her, for Regalia, and for the Underland as a whole, after every single time he'd risked his life to save all of theirs, Luxa had fallen in love with the Overlander Hero. It greatly pained her to see him go, and that same pain was made so terribly much worse by the mere simple _thought_ that the last leave he took from the Underland was final, and permanent.

A great many people shed a tear or five when Gregor, the many times aforementioned Overlander Hero, left, but eventually, all of them moved on, spare for the one. There were a few occasions over the years past since his leave, when there was nobody else nearby to hear or see her, that Luxa cried for him, hoping against everything, for all that it was worth, that she might see him again.

Unbeknownst to her, on this very night(as it would soon come to be known as), her hopes would come to fruition, and her many silent prayers would be answered, though by a character she would only previously have considered terribly unlikely.

His mother always had been strange, in his opinion. Teaching Encouraging habits no other Gnawer had, teaching him things the same amount of other Gnawers would ever bother to learn, and do far less to remember it all, and that's why she showed and taught him in the way she did; so that remembering it was in no choice he had or could make. She'd even taught him to read, write(for those lessons, she simply scratched the cave walls with her claws), do simple, and from there, more complex mathematics. Even science was included, although it took a bit longer to grasp, and a bit more explaining on his mother's part for him to really fully understand(Thank goodness his mother was patient!).

He clung to every single word during the lessons as though they were each an individual lifeline, knowing full well that nothing his mother ever did in her entire life went without perfectly good reason to back it up. Never once had he done something for simple leisure purposes, had never taught him anything simply so that he might have the luxury of knowing. She taught him because she knew for every fact which was in any way involved with it that he would need the skills she taught would be needed by him especially to save those around him. She knew these things so perfectly well because – like Bartholomew of Sandwich himself – she held within her the Gift of Sight, and her visions – when they came – had never once in any way been inaccurate, and from there, never been wrong(If that made sense to you, then you get a virtual cookie.) It was because of this fact that the other Gnawers had allowed her to keep teaching, as well as because they believed that '_those around him_' meant them.

"Idiots," he huffed, as he shuffled around the small room, which held his small chmical laboratory. The lab was not big, and was by no means good-looking, being built in a smallish circular cave, but in the long run, that didn't matter; the lab held all he needed.

His mother – as per usual – was right. He most certainly did need the knowledge she gave him, and was applying every single bit of it to what he was trying to make.

In his most recent visit to Regalia(about nine months ago, but hey, who's counting?) – a beautiful, well-crafted city made entirely of stone and lit only by the torches placed exactly everywhere, as well as the odd brazier you'd come across when walking about the place every now and again – he'd visited the city's Archive(Library, as things like it were called in the Overland). While he was there, he not only found what he was looking for – word of a brewable '_potion_' of sorts which could change you form into whatever you wished, so long as you had the proper ingredients for it – but found information on something that could revive the dead as well. Finding it not only _extremely_ useful, he left the Archives soon after, taking the book with him.

He had a plan to at least visit the Overland perhaps give that Gregor boy – and maybe even his first younger sister, Lizzie) a good surprise or three, but he needed at least two other people(at most four) with him so as not to look nearly as suspicious as he would if he made the trip alone. Trouble was, one of those people needed was dead.

"Not for much longer," he thought, as he went back to work. The only reason he could currently work as he had been for the past… _while_ now was because of a clever little invention he'd had the Regalian metalworkers make for him a long while back; it was an attachable thumb, which would close a certain distance depending on the pressure put into a small plate in the back of it when the user closed their hand that same certain distance. The thing was a good three years old, and had rusted a bit in the joints, so it didn't close all of the way, but it still served its purpose, and it did so rather well.

'_Certainly makes this easier,_' Ripred thought, mixing one last thing into the second… Potion…? (**A/N: ****I guess…?****)**

** So anyways guys, I'm gonna go ahead and wrap up this first chapter! I really hope you doods enjoyed, and if you did, then please, his those "Follow" and "Favorite" buttons for this story down below, and maybe even for me if you think I deserve it, even after this unreasonably large absence. So thank you all so much for stopping by and giving this story a chance and a read. If you truly enjoyed the story and want to see more, then please, click on my pen name and head over to my page for more stories that **_**I've **_**done…**

** *grins* And as always, I will SEE YOU- *points at the audience* …in the next story. BYE BYE-E-E-E!**


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